FFXIV Bitter Sweet

[Itchyness]

As much as people want oh so many endgame opportunities, events, stuff to do, etc. You guys realize that this game has only been out a bit over a month, right? You could easily say the same to console games that people beat in a day or two, then have nothing to do till the next DLC comes out. Video games are video games. There's always going to be a momentary stop because not all companies can dish out new content every day. Hell, no company can. And with this "repetitive" deal with leveling and grinding dungeons out, whats the list of mmo's that do almost nearly the same identical thing? 90% of mmo's do. I'm pretty sure a lot of people mainly play this game in support of SE and the series it brings to us. I do and I'm simply enjoying the world of FF and trolling around.

[vienne]

According to the live letter, they have a million players

The one million peope atm sais nothing about how great or bad this game is, the amount of subscribers they'll have in 6 months will tell alot more. And even... that number 1 mil, is that paying people or paying + free trial?

[vienne]

As much as people want oh so many endgame opportunities, events, stuff to do, etc. You guys realize that this game has only been out a bit over a month, right? You could easily say the same to console games that people beat in a day or two, then have nothing to do till the next DLC comes out. Video games are video games. There's always going to be a momentary stop because not all companies can dish out new content every day. Hell, no company can. And with this "repetitive" deal with leveling and grinding dungeons out, whats the list of mmo's that do almost nearly the same identical thing? 90% of mmo's do. I'm pretty sure a lot of people mainly play this game in support of SE and the series it brings to us. I do and I'm simply enjoying the world of FF and trolling around.

Sorry, but you havent read the thread, this is nothing about a lack of endgame content. i'm only lvl34 i think and for me most of the stuff OP points out deserves SE's attention.

[AreeSoothsayer]

Hello. I've read the thread. So adding my 2 cents. I was in FFXI 1 year after it came out. So I was one of those who had the original fight to level 50 cap. Most of the bugs were gone at that time, the fighting was slow, steady but because there was very little out like it at the time the shine of final fantasy and the sparkle of NEW! covered it up. Played it many years.
Now for my 2 cents.

1.0 had lots of new stuff, the programming bombed. Many things that could have worked and sucked people in, didn't, things that just grinded past didn't work either. Now here comes 2.0. I didn't expect my 1.0 character to be waiting for me so my level 50 lancer was sitting pretty. I popped onto it and went out exploring, fighting, just to have fun.

1 hour later.

I double checked to make sure it was final fantasy because I've played alot of games in my time and it brought about that same feel of same'ol same'ol. Okay, lets grab arcanist and level that up. Less than one week later I was 50 with my AF gear. The only fates I did were the ones that popped while I was in the area. I barely touched the quests intending to save those for later jobs. All the exp from slowly leveling came from dungeons yet it flew by. Ah, I have tons of free time so the less than a week was about 100 hours in game time.


FFXI had alot of flaws, I spent many hours sitting in jueno looking for parties. However the gameplay itself didn't feel like it was... how to put it... A street of house fronts. Houses, banks, mailboxes line a nice pretty street. No sidepaths. Hmm lets go look in that house over there see what's in it. Open the door and behind it... nothing, slowly the front topples over starting a chain reaction as you see.. the houses are just there for looks and at the end is a Bank with SE waiting for your money.

I've played FF1 all the way to today. I'm giving SE a chance, those updates they herald ahead had better be holding the insides of those houses otherwise in one years time there will be empty streets and a bank with boarded up windows. Because not even the Final Fantasy shine will be there if the game isn't even meeting the old Console standards of Final Fantasy.

[Feifonwong]

Almost completely agree with OP

[Yoko_Kurama]

First, to the OP, I love your post, completely encompasses the main issues with this so called MMO-RPG.
Secondly,

1. I found the overall scope of the world to be a little disappointing. It isn't incredibly small by any means...but lets be real here..it is not that big either. I mean I can ride my mount from the starting cities clear to the lvl 50 areas in a matter of what maybe 7-10 minutes? The smaller sized areas combined with all the fast travel you mention considerably take away from the sense of adventure that could be had with this game.

3. The speed of leveling is a little too fast for my taste as well. That said I have not been speed leveling my character to lvl 50 like so many other people have done...However, I do feel like I made it to lvl 43 too quickly. I wish the task of leveling a character felt more involved and was more of a challenge so that when I did reach the current level cap I would feel like I have accomplished something. A combination of larger game areas..harder mob fights..more requirements to party up for leveling and questing...slower leveling..and perhaps less emphasis on quick traveling all could help to create a game that draws you into the leveling of your character as much if not more so than it does just playing end game content.

4. The lack of a need to socially interact is a little dull for an MMO in my opinion. I get that people essentially have the choice and can party up and socialize if they so choose...but this is an MMO it should essentially be a requirement that I need to group up for harder mob fights and maybe even leveling parties..not just zerg fest fate parties.

These are definitely some huge factors that need to be addressed. First off make the map system not so user friendly, I shouldn't even know that a fate is near me unless i happen to be walking by and see players already fighting a monster. I shouldn't know that my quest destination is precisely behind a cliff up on a tree based on the fact that on my map i got a glowing dot telling me it has to be there...By making it so that we actually have to focus on what is on our screens instead of our maps the sense of adventure would probably double if not triple.

[aswedishtiger]

I agree with everything op said. tons of my friends want me in GW2 couple other hopefuls want me to stick around for PvP. idk I feel like if I do AK or CM 1 more time my head is going to explode. it doesn't even feel fun, feels like "work". games shouldn't feel that way imo.

[Sartori]

Yes, feel exactly the same way the op does and #53 post sums things up pretty well too.

[Yoko_Kurama]

I disagree with pretty much everything you said, but this even more than most. No game, not one i've played and i've been playing mmos since mid 90s, has been different. Any game with levels, and gear that gets better (both carrots on the stick), doesn't do this. They can't do anything else. It's not the games fault, it's the players really.

I think you actually misunderstand the mind frame the OP is trying to portray, and you are seriously lacking in game play experience overall if you feel every mmo does this. I've played mmo's where by the time I reached level cap, I could sit there and recount to you the names of each boss and mini boss I ever fought, I could recount to you the difficulty and enjoyment I felt when I first conquered the level 15/20/30 dungeons, I could tell you how happy I was to get that rare dagger at level 30 which I used until level 40 which was over a week of content alone. I could tell you how happy I was when i realized that if you went off the beaten path and ran over to that normal looking tree and I decided to climb up it i found a small monster which if you kill gave you a cloak that made you invisible....I could recount the time when I was just in a town shopping for potions and a GM got on global chat and warned us they were opening a portal so that players from the opposite faction could actually access our safe town and so get ready to fight whoever comes running through in the next 5 minutes and then next thing you know hundreds of players are running at us at various levels and i'm only lvl 37 with whatever gear and the portal has no level cap so i run through the portal myself and invade them and even though i die after running around for 5 minutes it was Exhilarating!

THAT was a real mmorpg experience. THAT was adventure, don't bs the bser trying to say every game since the 90s was as dumbed down and simplistic as this...because you only show how little you know about mmorpgs with such statements.

[ApolloGenX]

I don't see how you can avoid that though. DF is meant to be casual, so if they're such an elite, why are they using it? I have to clarify I'm talking about Dzemael and Vale mostly, so it's not a story dungeon you have to clear to continue with the game. All "elite" players used to be newbies at some point, so even if you separate into "casual" and "elite" player servers, it won't solve the issue.

Most "elite" wannabes are the ones screaming requirements for knowing the strategy and likely gear that is well beyond the dungeon. They aren't elite, they are either scrubs wanting to be carried, or scrubs hidden under gear. Either way, don't bother. People that make a crazy to-do about gear are usually lame-os that have no skills. There is very little you can't do in the current game because of gear limitations.